In 2025, the unauthorised use of works for training artificial intelligence became a pressing issue both in Finland and internationally. The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act did not yield the desired results in terms of strengthening the position of the creative industry, but we were able to update our copying licence to cover the use of copyrighted material in AI prompts. In addition to artificial intelligence, this year’s focus will be on influencing the next Government programme.
Last year largely met our expectations and the goals we had set. We met our financial performance targets, and our expenses stayed within budget. We continued our established licensing activities and paid out approximately €49 million in copyright remunerations to the creative industry.
Cuts took their toll on the cultural sector – but there were also some glimmers of light
For the cultural and creative industries, the year was a difficult one due to fiscal adjustments. The halving of the compensation for private copying resulted in a sharp decline in the number of films supported by AVEK, which operates as part of our organisation. The amount of copyright remunerations we pay directly to audiovisual authors will be affected by the cut for the first time this year.
The adjustments also led to cuts in core funding and project funding for cultural organisations, for example. Many of these organisations are members of Kopiosto, and the impact of the cuts is felt throughout the creative industry. Fortunately, the massive cuts planned for the film industry were thwarted in the autumn.
At the end of last year, in connection with the so-called Christmas gift funds, Parliament allocated €150,000 to the Kehittämö programme, which AVEK runs in collaboration with the Finnish Cultural Foundation. AVEK’s share of Kehittämö had been threatened by the cut in the compensation for private copying. This was a significant achievement that we worked towards through systematic advocacy efforts.
Implementation of the AVMS Directive moved forward, critical changes to the Copyright Act did not
Functional structures are critical to the success and growth of the creative industry. A shared achievement for the industry was that the implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) into national legislation will proceed during 2026. The Directive allows for the imposition of a payment obligation on streaming services to support domestic content production.
Our long-term goal has been to update the Copyright Act, which governs the industry, so that it would provide a more balanced protection of rights in the creative industry. Despite our persistent advocacy efforts, no actual legislative reform has been initiated.
However, there have been some small steps forward even with regard to the Copyright Act. A year ago, at the request of the Ministry of Education and Culture, an impartial study (in Finnish only) was conducted on the reform of the system for the compensation for private copying. It stated unequivocally that our current budget-funded system is contrary to EU law and should therefore be reformed. Decision-makers now have a concrete alternative in the form of a recording- or device-based model, which would even generate savings for the state budget.
Next, two other important studies are coming up: one addresses the need to protect a person’s image, voice and likeness from unauthorised manipulation by artificial intelligence (so-called deepfakes) and the other concerns the legal standing of copyright organisations, i.e. their right to represent authors and other copyright holders in legal proceedings. Furthermore, revisions to the Copyright Act are set to be proposed in 2026 regarding the extended collective licence provisions on the use of works in internal communications and the reuse of archived magazines and newspapers.
We developed solutions for the use of works in the age of artificial intelligence
Copyrighted materials are collected and used to train language models without transparency, the consent of copyright holders or compensation for such use. The entry into force of the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act in August 2025 unfortunately did not help copyright holders in initiating discussions and negotiations with technology companies.
Although launching licensing for large language models is likely to require rulings from the EU courts, we have already adapted our current licences to better reflect the changed circumstances. For example, the copying licence for companies was extended to allow companies to input copyrighted material into artificial intelligence systems under certain conditions.
With this extension, the price of the copying licence will increase over a two-year period, and we will distribute the accumulated compensation to the creative industry as usual. Creating new revenue streams for authors and publishers is one of our key strategic goals. Indeed, the development of new licence products and existing licences was one of our most significant successes last year.
Artificial intelligence is having an impact on society in many ways, and we must play our part in providing copyright solutions for this new reality.
In the case of large language models as well, we can quickly begin licence development and negotiations if necessary. To this end, we laid important groundwork last year: at our extraordinary general meeting, we approved a new rights category under which copyright holders have granted us the authority to manage rights that could be used to initiate AI licensing if necessary.
In the autumn, I was elected First Vice President of the Board of Directors of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO). The debate on the relationship between artificial intelligence and copyright is lively in international forums, and EU regulation plays a key role in this matter from the perspective of the creative industry. It is therefore extremely important that we stay informed about developments in transnational regulation and increase our influence in that arena as well.
Towards the next parliamentary term
The difficult state of public finances challenges us to consider how we can ensure that copyright holders receive the fair compensation that they are entitled to, despite the bad economic climate. Compensation paid through the state budget for the use of works in educational institutions, universities and universities of applied sciences, as well as public lending remunerations paid for library lending, are all areas where clear pressure to increase rates has been recognised for several years.
It is important that the Government programme to be drawn up next year include provisions regarding amendments to the Copyright Act. These include changes such as the development of the extended collective licence system and the reform of the system for compensation for private copying, on which we will continue to work diligently in collaboration with other organisations in the industry.
Artificial intelligence is having an impact on society in many ways, and we must play our part in providing copyright solutions for this new reality. Our own organisation must also remain alert so that the positive effects of artificial intelligence in areas such as improving work efficiency can be taken into account and implemented to a sufficient extent.
I would like to thank the people of Kopiosto for their dedicated work and our stakeholders for their constructive cooperation throughout 2025. I am confident that our joint efforts on behalf of the creative industry will continue to yield important copyright remunerations, legislative reforms and faith in the future this year as well.
Valtteri Niiranen
CEO of Kopiosto
2025 highlights
In 2025, we worked hard to safeguard the conditions for the creative industry. We carried out advocacy work to update the Copyright Act and secure AVEK’s funding. We surveyed the creative industry’s views on AI and outlined the principles for the responsible use of AI. We also developed a licensing solution for the use of copyrighted content in AI prompts.
Discover the highlights of our 2025 activities
Remunerations yield 49 million euros in revenue
In 2025, our revenue from remunerations totalled 48.6 million euros, 3% less than in the previous year. The main reason for the decline was the halving of the compensation for private copying, as the Government reduced the compensation from 11 million euros to 5.5 million euros from the beginning of 2025. This meant a reduction of around 3 million euros in compensation for private copying for Kopiosto. However, other areas partly made up for the loss.
Revenue was mainly generated from the use of audiovisual works and from the reproduction and other use of publications. The revenue also included compensation for private copying, public lending remunerations and the creative culture grants allocated to AVEK by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Total operating expenses and depreciations amounted to 5.4 million euros, which was 4% less than in the previous year.
Remuneration funds will be invested in accordance with the investment policy approved by Kopiosto’s Board of Directors for the period between their collection and distribution. In 2025, the profit/loss of the investment and funding operations stood at 1.7 million euros (1.9 million euros in 2024).
The total revenue to be transferred to rightholders in 2025 amounted to 44.9 million euros, which was 3% less than in the previous year.
